You searched for: “assault”
assassinate, assail, assault, assault
assassinate (uh SAS uh nayt") (verb)
To murder (a prominent person) by the means of a surprise ambush, often for political reasons: Someone did indeed assassinate President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in 1963.
assail (uh SAYL) (verb)
To strike with or as if with violent blows: A mugger tried to assail James on the dark street as he was walking home.
assault (uh SALT) (noun)
A violent verbal attack with criticism: Paul was heard verbally making an assault at one of his coworkers.
assault (uh SALT) (verb)
To attack with or as if with violent blows: Stacy was wanted by the police because she assaulted a man with her umbrella.

It seems to be a bit unfair that the newspapers referred to the attempted shooting of a famous man as an attempt to assassinate him. Ordinary people have to be satisfied with being subject to an assault by someone attempting to assail them.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. (page 8)
assault (s) (noun), assaults (pl)
1. A physical or criminal assailment on a person or people; literally, leaping on: To the horror of the audience and viewers on TV, the assault by the lion on Jim, the trainer, took place in the middle of the circus act.

Rufus, the robber, was charged by the police with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

2. A military raid or onslaught: The military forces were involved in assaults that lasted for several months.
This entry is located in the following unit: sali-, salt-, -sili-, sult-, -salta- (page 1)
assault (verb), assaults; assaulted; assaulting
1. To make a physical descent on a place or a person: The criminal, Louis, was convicted of assaulting and robbing Warren in the parking lot of the store.

Diana accused her next door neighbor of sexually assaulting her daughter.

2. To use violent force or to bombard someone or the senses with something undesirable or unpleasant: The ears of the people were assaulted by the loud music from the neighbor's apartment.
3. To carry out a military offensive against an enemy using weapons: The unit of special forces parachuted into the camp and assaulted the gang and rescued the hostages that were abducted by the criminals.
This entry is located in the following unit: sali-, salt-, -sili-, sult-, -salta- (page 1)
Word Entries containing the term: “assault”
armed assault and holdup *
This entry is located in the following unit: Pleonasms or Tautological Redundancies (page 3)
assault and battery (s) (noun), assaults and batteries (pl)
A legal term for a crime of threatening someone together with the act of physically hitting the person: When Mario and Leroy got into an argument in the bar, Mario said he would knock Leroy down and spit on him; then he actually kicked Leroy in the left knee which caused him to fall down on the floor and then Mario was arrested and charged with assault and battery by the police.
This entry is located in the following unit: sali-, salt-, -sili-, sult-, -salta- (page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words containing the term: “assault”
rifle (s) (noun), rifles (pl); air rifle, air rifles; assault rifle, assault rifles
1. A firearm which has a long barrel and that is held against a person's shoulder when he or she is shooting it: Hunters around the world use rifles to kill various "wild-game animals" to be used for food or for a so-called "sport".

Brenda's father took his rifle out to go hunting for deer.

2. A BB gun that uses compressed air or gas to fire small pellets: Lucinda's young brother took his air rifle to shoot at some cans lined up on a fence.
3. A weapon that can shoot many bullets quickly and which is designed for use by the military: A unit of soldiers were armed with assault rifles and they were having target practice with these weapons.
This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group R (page 4)